This year, Canadian music is big at TSM. I originally wrote this article for the Classical Voice North America website.
As music festivals go, Toronto Summer Music isn’t a “big deal.” The festival doesn’t stage outdoor orchestra concerts for audiences in the thousands. It doesn’t present an endless parade of concerts and recitals by the world’s most glamorous and celebrated musicians. Yet throughout its twelve-year history, this “little festival that could” has presented about three dozen concerts and other events annually, in a three-week window in July and early August. Mostly, the concerts are chamber programs, small in scale but impressive in quality. And mostly, the festival has focused on the tried and true: canonic classical programming that is familiar and comforting rather than obscure or controversial.
As music festivals go, Toronto Summer Music isn’t a “big deal.” The festival doesn’t stage outdoor orchestra concerts for audiences in the thousands. It doesn’t present an endless parade of concerts and recitals by the world’s most glamorous and celebrated musicians. Yet throughout its twelve-year history, this “little festival that could” has presented about three dozen concerts and other events annually, in a three-week window in July and early August. Mostly, the concerts are chamber programs, small in scale but impressive in quality. And mostly, the festival has focused on the tried and true: canonic classical programming that is familiar and comforting rather than obscure or controversial.
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